Texas Tiger Lady Selected for New Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Book [PHOTOS]

Kids dream of being all sorts of impossible things when they're young. Well this girl never gave up on her dream of being a tiger, and now she's as close as she can get to being one.

At the young age of 40, nearly 90% of Katzen Hobbes body is covered in tiger stripes, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Hobbes began her transformation at 18 and received most of her tattoos during the first ten years of her ongoing project. According to Hobbes, "I wanted to be covered in tiger stripes when I was young, but it wasn't until I was 9 and living in Japan that I realized how I could do it. My mother said, 'Wait until you're 18.'"

Her journey to be a tiger didn't end at tattoos though. For 14 years Hobbes had plastic whiskers implanted in her face, which she eventually removed in favor a scarification. "I had them removed because I started to feel they affected my field of vision."

While she may be a local attraction in Austin, Texas, where she works in a tattoo parlor and as a sideshow in the 999 Eyes Freakshow, she's about to be nationally known. Hobbes is one of many people to be selected for the latest Ripley's Believe It Or Not! book, "Reality Shock!" which will be debuting Sept. 9.

So why tattoo your entire body with tiger stripes? According to Hobbes, "Most of us are more than skin deep. I feel more beautiful this way."

And did anyone else notice that Hobbes is also to name of the stuffed tiger in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes? Maybe it's just a coincidence. You can see more pictures of Katzen Hobbes here.

One more cool fact before we end this. According to Wikipedia, Katzen is the German word for cat. Interesting.